This invention relates to variable positioning retractor devices and in particular relates to retractor devices for mounting electronic equipment adjacent to the waterline on the hull of a boat.
Pleasure boats which, in recent years, have employed electronic sensing equipment vary in size from small runabouts to large yachts. These boats, whether 12 feet long or a 100 feet long have some factors in common. They are typically piloted by nonprofessional pilots and they are often hauled in and out of the water. This is especially true with smaller sized boats, even those as long as 30 feet.
These pleasure boats, therefore, often come in contact with bottom surfaces, including those times when they are hauled upon a trailer or are launched down a ramp, or they run aground.
Sensitive electronic devices, such as depth gauges and fish finders, utilize acoustic transducers which must be mounted on or adjacent to the hull of a boat. With small pleasure boats, the stern transom is a convenient location to mount depth gauge and other types of electronic acoustic transducers. These transducers must be mounted below the normal water line of the boat and it is preferred that they extend below the bottom line of the hull.
In the past, to hold these transducers, pleasure boaters have employed a fixed bracket mounted to the transom of the boat and extending below the bottom line of the hull. The transducer or other sensitive electronic equipment is then mounted on the bottom most edge of the bracket.
Several problems have occurred with this type of mounting. First if the boat hits bottom the delicate transducer or other electronic equipment can be easily damaged or completely broken away from its mounting and thereby completely lost even to the possibility of repair. Secondly, the transducer extending below the hull line is often damaged when the boat is hauled onto a trailer or launched down a ramp. Both of these circumstances require the cautious boat owner to disassemble his depth gauge transducer and bracket before hauling his boat or when he knows he will be in very shallow waters. This procedure requires, usually, a substantial amount of time to electrically disconnect the apparatus and to thereafter mechanically remove the apparatus and its mounting bracket. With very large yachts, having reasonably deep drafts, a diver may be needed to mount and unmount the fixed bracketed transducer apparatus.
A more common occurring problem is the build up of marine life and debris on the sensor head of a transducer. This occurs with both freshwater and saltwater use.
However, many pleasure craft are operated in salt water. These boats are left in the water for long periods of time. During this salt water residency, barnacles and other marine growth build up on the bottom of the boat as well as upon the depth gauge transducer and other electronic acoustic equipment. These growths impair the clarity and resolution of the electronic equipment transducers.
It is therefore desirable to be able to remove a transducer from a salt water environment at the end of a boating day. In this way barnacles and other marine life do not build up on the transducer. If needed, the retracted transducer can be easily accessed for cleaning or otherwise servicing.
It is further desirable to be able to retract or otherwise remove the transducer and other sensitive electronic equipment from the bottom line of the boat when the boat is in very shallow water or when it is being pulled onto a trailer or launched down a launching ramp.
It is further desirable to develop a retractor device which can hold the transducer at various positions intermediate its full retracted position and its fully extended position.